TechDoctorUK is experiencing some interesting problems with YouTube's policies that ban discussion of ways to bypass payment for digital content and services. The popular YouTuber has had tutorial videos for legal apps downloadable from Google Play flagged numerous times and is currently suspended from YouTube for 'banned' content that doesn't appear to be illegal.
For many years YouTube was a haven for people to upload and distribute videos explaining how to get otherwise premium content for free.
Tutorials for Kodi addons, infringing Android apps, and otherwise piracy-related videos were displayed in their thousands, providing assistance to established and would-be pirates alike.
Back in 2018 we predictedĀ that the platform wouldnāt put up with this forever and soon enough, YouTube began clamping down on this type of content using its āharmful or dangerousā content policies.Ā YouTubeās restrictions are numerous and are especially clear when it comes to piracy-related tutorials.
āBypassing payment for digital content or services: Showing viewers how to use apps, websites or other information technology to gain unauthorized free access to audio content, audiovisual content, full video games, software or streaming services that normally require payment,ā the relevant section reads.
This policy has teeth. YouTube says that a first breach will probably result in a warning but a āstrikeā is also possible. Three strikes in 90 days mean a channel termination and there is no shortage of piracy-focused YouTubers that didnāt heed the warnings and have been banned from the service. Interestingly, seemingly innocent parties can get sucked in too.
Popular YouTuber TechDoctorUK Canāt Catch a Break
With 223K subscribers and 12.7 million channel views,Ā TechDoctorUKĀ is known for his video tutorials. A couple of years ago, these included presentations on piracy apps such as Mobdro and Showbox but to avoid falling foul of YouTubeās content rules, these were all deleted and these days he says he only uploads tutorials for legal applications.
However, this shift doesnāt appear to be helping the YouTuber much. In numerous complaints directed to YouTube on Twitter, he explains that on at least five occasions YouTube has flagged his tutorials as breaching content guidelines, something which resulted in strikes against his account.
āI have received strikes for doing a review on Xumo TV, Pluto TV and others. All of which are completely legal. Fortunately, after tweeting TeamYoutube, they did remove the strikes,ā he informs TF.
For example, the strike for the Pluto video was contested but YouTube stood by its stance that the video violated its guidelines. It took around four days to reverse the decision.
Another strike related to a video that showed how to use a Firestick backup manager. TechDoctorUKās first appeal was rejected in two minutes but following a review, was later restored and the corresponding strike was removed.
However, after posting another review, this time covering anĀ app called Teleboy, YouTube flagged his content as policy-violating yet again.
Whatās of interest here is that the Teleboy app isĀ distributed on Google PlayĀ and appears to be legitimate. Even if there were any red flags about the app itself, itās still being distributed from there.
After complaining about this strike the objection was again rejected in two minutes (the video is eight minutes long) and TechDoctorUK still canāt get a response from YouTube or have his suspension removed. YouTube says that his content is still under review with the policy team.
So what is the problem exactly? TechDoctorUK believes that YouTubeās automated scanning tools are to blame.
Automation Bots Canāt Recognize Free From Infringing Apps
āThe trouble is the automation bots donāt know if something is free in the first place,ā TechDoctorUK informs TF.
āThey just look/listen for keywords in your video and if they suspect itās something related to free access, they just take down your video and give you a strike. Three strikes in the same 90 days and your channel is deleted.ā
As the infringement warning from YouTube indicates a specific timestamp, it does appear that some scanning has taken place but why YouTube is flagging this type of content is unclear.
Thereās a possibility that earlier (but now deleted content) covering various piracy apps could have placed the channel on the radar but this latest set of strikes suggest that the recognition system may need a tweak or two.
Originally published as āYouTuber Receives Strikes For Reviewing Legal Video Apps Available on Google Playā with the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license.